Imo ga mishi ōchi no hana wa chirinu beshi wa ga naku namida imada hinaku ni

妹が見し楝の花は散りぬべし
我が泣く涙いまだ干なくに

Roma-ji: Imo ga mishi ōchi no hana wa chirinu beshi wa ga naku namida imada hinaku ni
English Translation: The flowers of chinaberry
that my dear wife looked upon
must be falling now,
while the tears that I have wept
have not yet had time to dry
Meaning: The chinaberry blossoms my wife once gazed on must soon scatter, though the tears I weep have not yet dried.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 798

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "An elegy in Japanese: envoy"
The poet says the chinaberry blossoms his wife saw in life are about to fall, yet his own tears have not dried. He contrasts the passage of time, shown in the fading flowers, with an unchanging grief, lamenting that the seasons move on after her death.
This is the fourth of five envoys attached to the "Elegy in Japanese." The elegy is preceded by a Chinese preface and Chinese poem that cite Buddhist scripture at length on the impermanence of all living things and the grief of losing a wife; the long poem is called an "Elegy in Japanese" as the native-language counterpart to them. The left note says it was presented by Yamanoue no Okura, Governor of Chikuzen, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month of Jinki 5, and it is generally held that Okura composed it in the voice of Ōtomo no Tabito, Governor-General of Dazaifu, mourning the death of Tabito's wife.
The poet, Yamanoue no Okura, was an official who went to Tang China as a junior secretary with the embassy appointed in Taihō 1. After his return he served as Governor of Hōki and in the household of the Crown Prince, and late in the Jinki era he was posted to Tsukushi as Governor of Chikuzen. He is known for poems rooted in everyday life, on the sufferings of human existence, love for family, and poverty, written against a background of learning in Chinese classics and Buddhist scripture.

First line, "imo ga mishi": what his late wife saw while alive; her image is laid over the flowers.
Second line, "ōchi no hana wa": "ōchi" is the old name for the chinaberry, which bears pale purple flowers in early summer; it was likely in bloom around the time of her death.
Third line, "chirinu beshi": "nu beshi" is a strong conjecture, "they will surely fall," and the poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "wa ga naku namida": the tears he has shed ever since losing his wife.
Fifth line, "imada hinaku ni": "naku ni" is an adversative exclamation, "though they have not yet," setting the swiftness of falling blossoms against tears that will not dry.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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